Dear fellow researchers, I need your help here.
I want to randomize animals into different groups. Each group will contain a certain number of animals for example 5-7. I want each animal in each group to be labelled permanently A1,A2, B1, B2...etc to avoid any confusion, or mismatching.
Appreciate your response. Thank you.
What sort of animals are you working with? We need to know to be able to suggest marking strategies.
If you are definitely intent on using markers such as A1, A2 etc, then you can tattoo the rats which will ensure permanency of the mark. Other studies use ear tags (which can come out sometimes, but not too often), and some researchers clip the ears or toes in specific places to mark individuals. I am not a great fan of clipping body parts, but this might be the simplest option for you if your university animal ethics committee approves the method. If your study is not going to run for more than a few weeks, I would go with ear tags and just check the rats daily to make sure they are intact.
Hope this helps.
Hi Shahinaz,
We use marker pen on the tails, which can allow individual marking of upto 4 animals (3 horizontal, 2 vertical) - using a few different colours gives you a bit of range! Permanent marker stays on quite well, but you will need to re-do it every so often, especially if it's a long study.
Just keep a note of which animal is which - I usually use a number/code system - so red2 would have a detailed and unique code such as R1501 (Rat 2015 no.1).
Hope this helps!
I also use markers if I will be visiting the rats often enough to remark as needed. Ear tags work well too for rats.
Good luck!
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